Freescale v. Too Many Others

One of my pet peeves is when a datasheet lists 'typical' values with no min or max. I’ve written about this a couple of times: here and here. It seems like this problem is getting worse as components get more complex. In fact, one FAE admitted that “typical” specs are often driven by marketing’s needs, not engineering analysis.

Sometimes the results are almost laughable. TI, which generally does a good job of characterizing their devices, has a step-down converter (the TPS82740A) whose Iq is rated at 360nA typ, 2,300 max. That’s a huge range of values. One can only conclude that the typ number is meaningless. (Not to knock the part — this is a very innovative converter. It will stop switching and connect Vin to Vout through a FET if Vin is roughly at the desired output level. Very cool.)

Maximum values are especially rare in the domain of ultra-low power MCUs. Vendors are in a real slugfest to prove their parts have lower sleep currents than the competitors, and too often “typ” is the only rating given for this critical parameter. Here’s a “typical” example from a vendor of an ARM MCU who makes a big production about their low-current specs:

The careful designer is left scratching his head, with no idea what sort of results he’ll see in a real-world application.